Monday, May 6

Checking for Understanding

I was able to observe three lessons today, start to finish.  The first was math, where students were exploring weight.  The second was writing in which students were learning about writing reviews of places and things.  The last lesson was reading, where students were working on making and changing predictions as they read.  The first two lessons were taught by my host teacher and the last was taught by a ELL and reading specialist in the building who comes to the room three days a week.

I didn't observe a lot of checking for understanding in all three of these lessons.  During math, there was definitely one time when the teacher checked for understanding.  She asked a question to do this.  After explaining the difference between metric and US weight units, she asked if 600 grams was heavier than one pound.  The student who was called on responded with silence, then "...What?"  The teacher made the assumption that the student hadn't been paying attention (which could definitely be true).  Another student answered and seemed to guess between yes and no.  When the teacher revealed the answer, a number of students cheered that they got it.  I also heard a lot of "darn"s.  It seemed like students may have just picked yes or no.  The teacher gave an explanation for the answer, as provided by Everyday Math. This was the only time I caught a specific time when the teacher checked for understanding.  There was also a small activity where the students had to come up with examples of things that could be weighed with a specific type of scale (ex: produce scale weighs grapes and apples).  This was sort of checking for understanding, but it was also coming up with examples rather than making sure students were understanding the material.

During reading, the only thing I wrote down on my template was a turn and talk at the beginning of the lesson.  This seemed sort of review of a lesson they had done weeks ago.  It was checking for understanding of the previous lesson, but mostly a warm-up for this lesson.  This was a mini-lesson, so it was shorter and didn't have as much new information as a full lesson.

During writing, checking for understanding was done mostly through having students share their predictions.  They also offered edits to their previous predictions.  I thought this was somewhat effective, but it didn't really get at all of the students.  Predicting is something students have a lot of experience with, but I felt that changing their predictions should have been made a stronger point in the lesson.  There were only a few students who shared their changed predictions.  It was interesting to hear what they had to say, but I am wondering if there was a way more students could participate in this and focus not on the predictions, but the process.  I think something as simple as having students share with each other in response to a question about the lesson's point.  Ex: As we read, what happens to the predictions we made at the beginning of the story?  How does it help us understand the story?  In addition, after this, students could answer the question: Did our predictions from the beginning of the story change?  What changed or strengthened them?

Overall, I was looking for a few more instances where the teacher checked for understanding, especially in math with the brand new material.  I will continue to look for this throughout the week, especially on Thursday.

Tomorrow I will be: observing for management strategies, one reading group, working with case studies (especially N).

Question of the Day

After teaching for 17 years, what do you still hope to develop?  

I happened to ask this question (predetermined, not thought up on the spot) after a crazy dismissal.  The students were amped up for some reason, which may have influenced the teacher's initial response.  She responded after about two seconds saying "Patience."  Even outside of the circumstances, I think this is something all teachers always struggle with.  In many of my fieldwork placements, I have seen the teacher get frustrated at some point or another.  Especially in my extended placements where I have spent a significant amount of the school day in one room, I think teachers get frustrated more often than I anticipated as a grade school student.  I have even talked with professors in college who get frustrated often.  Patience is a huge part of the job.  Teachers are an overwhelmingly patient group.  I think patience is a good thing to work on throughout a career, however it is also wise to realize that frustration happens with students, and that it is something to acknowledge, work through, and manage. The second thing my teacher discussed was how to better teach the curriculum in the district.  She struggles with abiding by the curriculum, and even after being in Minnesota with the current curriculum for a while, still is finding ways to improve it for her students.